Hull Claims

This section provides a general guide to steps you should take in the event of a potential Hull & Machinery claim on your policy and also how we typically respond.

A potential claim could involve damage to your own vessel or to third party property. As every incident is different, this is not intended to be an all-inclusive list and if you are in any doubt then please contact a member of the Claims Department as we will be happy to assist.

The hull claims department handles all incidents involving damage to or loss of insured vessels as well as property claims made by or pursued against third parties.

Following an incident

Without putting yourself or your crew in danger, you should take reasonable steps to make your vessel safe in order to prevent further damage to it or to other property. Costs incurred for taking such measures should be recoverable under your Policy should a claim result.
In many cases, the cost of a towage from sea to a safe port is claimable irrespective of the cause of the problem leading to the tow.
Notify Sunderland Marine as soon as possible of any event that may result in a claim on your Policy. This can be done via your insurance broker, direct to the Claims Department or via your local Sunderland Marine branch office.

It is important that we are notified as soon as possible so that we can:

Offer immediate advice and assistance
If necessary, arrange for any damage to be inspected prior to repairs commencing
Arrange to obtain statements from any relevant witnesses
Advise on the appointment of salvors if the vessel is still in distress

What we will do

Once submitted, your claim will be allocated to one of our highly experienced claims handlers who will keep you up to date with the progress of your claim and will respond to any questions you may have. We are happy to discuss the required repairs and offer advice but you remain in control of the repair process.

We will send you a Claim Form to be completed as fully as possible, signed and returned to us. It is important that the Claim Form is completed fully (and signed) as failure to do so could slow down the handling of your claim.

Our claims handlers will seek to gather all relevant documentation and information as soon as possible to enable us to deal with your claim promptly within the terms of your policy.

We understand the financial and time pressures faced by our clients following an incident and we pride ourselves on providing a prompt and transparent claims service.

We hope you do not need to contact the Claims Department but if you do, then there is a highly experienced team of claims handlers waiting to assist you.